Quick answer: The United States leads the 2026 Presidents Cup 3-2 after Thursday's five four-ball matches at Medinah. Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns won 1 up, Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun won 4 and 3, and Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa won 3 and 2. Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune, plus Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim, earned the International Team's two points. Friday brings five foursomes matches beginning at 1:05 p.m. CT.
The United States did what history says a Presidents Cup favorite should do: win the opening session. It did not do what recent history threatened, which was turn Thursday into an immediate rout.
A 3-2 advantage is meaningful because teams leading after the first session have won this event 12 times. It is also narrow enough to preserve the central question of the week. The International Team took two decisive matches, avoided the 5-0 damage it suffered on Thursday in 2024 and reaches alternate shot one good session from changing control.
Brandt Snedeker's opening strategy produced three points. Geoff Ogilvy's counters produced two and revealed where his roster can pressure the deeper American side. The score confirms a U.S. edge without settling anything.
Scheffler and Burns finally converted trust into a point
Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns arrived at Medinah with an 0-3-1 record together in Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup play. Snedeker still sent them first. They rewarded that trust with a 1-up victory over Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im, but the path mattered as much as the point.
The match was tied with two holes remaining. Burns had already produced the partnership's defining recovery at the 14th, hitting his approach from 173 yards to a few feet immediately after the Americans fell behind. Both Internationals bogeyed the 17th, and Scheffler closed the match with an approach at 18 that finished within six inches.
This was not a dominant world-No. 1 performance dragging a partner. Burns delivered the most important shot at 14 and helped stabilize a match that could have reinforced every question about their pairing. The result gives Snedeker permission to keep them together in Friday foursomes, where alternate shot makes trust even more important.
Thomas gave Koivun room to recover
Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun produced the largest U.S. victory, 4 and 3 over Corey Conners and Nico Echavarria. The score looks comfortable; the opening did not. Koivun hit his tee shot out of bounds on the second hole in his Presidents Cup debut.
His response showed why Snedeker paired him with Thomas. Koivun birdied the par-5 third from 20 feet to claim a lead the Americans never surrendered. Later, his 15-foot par save at the eighth prevented the Internationals from cutting into the margin. Thomas supplied several decisive birdies and finished the day as the strongest statistical performer in the field according to the data cited by Golf Channel.
Thomas is now 11-3-2 in the Presidents Cup and 7-0 in four-ball. Those numbers help explain why a captain's pick with an uneven individual season can still be indispensable. He did not merely contribute birdies; he absorbed the emotional burden while a 21-year-old rookie found his feet.
The official PGA Tour selection special shows how the 12-player teams were assembled before Thursday's opening session. Video: PGA Tour on YouTube.
Clark and Morikawa supplied the cleanest American point
Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa beat Ryan Fox and Adam Scott 3 and 2 in the only match the Americans controlled from start to finish. Clark made four birdies in the first eight holes and five overall, the most credited to any player Thursday.
The pairing worked as designed. Clark created bursts of offense while Morikawa supplied positional stability through the middle of the round. The Internationals cut the lead after winning the seventh, but Clark answered with an 18-foot birdie at the eighth. The U.S. reached the turn 3 up and never allowed the match to become uncertain.
That result may be the most repeatable American blueprint. Four-ball allows Clark to attack without asking Morikawa to match his volatility. In foursomes, where every ball belongs to both partners, their complementary games will face a different test against Fox and Min Woo Lee.
Matsuyama and Hisatsune stopped the session from tilting
Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune defeated Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele 3 and 1. Hisatsune carried the pairing through a slow start from Matsuyama, then the veteran made four birdies beginning at the sixth. Matsuyama ended the match with a 10-foot birdie at the 17th.
The value of that point extends beyond the board. Ogilvy paired two Japanese players with different levels of team experience and received contributions from both. Hisatsune's early play kept the match level; Matsuyama's middle stretch created separation. The partnership gave the International Team a credible formula for mixing its established stars with less experienced players.
Hisatsune will sit Friday despite playing well. That is a reminder that foursomes selections are not simple rewards for Thursday performance. Alternate shot emphasizes compatible driving, approach profiles and shared miss patterns. Ogilvy is changing the format and recalibrating his combinations accordingly.
The Kim duo delivered the point the Internationals needed
Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim beat Chris Gotterup and Patrick Cantlay 3 and 2 in the anchor match. They were the only pair that did not count a bogey or worse, and their closing stretch prevented the session from ending 4-1.
Si Woo Kim broke a tie at the seventh by hitting his 215-yard tee shot to four feet. He later holed a 30-foot birdie at the 14th to move 3 up. Tom Kim finished the match at the 16th with a 165-yard shot that nearly became an ace.
Their energy is often the visible story, but Thursday's point came from precision. They did not give holes away, they answered the one moment when Cantlay pulled level and they converted the par-3 opportunities that define Medinah's back nine. Ogilvy now knows his most combustible pairing can also be his most controlled.
Friday changes the game completely
Five foursomes matches begin Friday at 1:05 p.m. CT. Scheffler and Burns return against Corey Conners and Nick Taylor. Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman enter for the U.S. against Sungjae Im and Matsuyama. Clark and Morikawa face Fox and Lee. Thomas joins Cameron Young against Scott and Christiaan Bezuidenhout. Cantlay and Schauffele reunite against Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim.
The format shift matters. In four-ball, one player can rescue a hole while a partner attacks. In foursomes, partners alternate shots with one ball, so every miss transfers pressure. The rookies Koivun and Gotterup sit after Thursday; Henley and Bridgeman enter fresh. Ogilvy brings Taylor and Bezuidenhout into the competition while resting Hisatsune and Echavarria.
The most revealing match may be the last. Cantlay and Schauffele are the established U.S. partnership Snedeker split Thursday. They now face the Kims immediately after the International duo's strongest performance. It is a direct test of American experience against International momentum.
A lead, not a verdict
The Americans earned the better day and deserve the 3-2 edge. Scheffler and Burns answered a partnership question, Thomas demonstrated why team experience matters, and Clark produced the most sustained offense of the session.
But the International Team accomplished its minimum objective: stay attached. A 5-0 American sweep in the 2024 opener created a crisis even though the Internationals swept Friday. At Medinah, Ogilvy begins Day 2 only one point behind and with two partnerships already validated.
Friday's alternate shot will expose mistakes more harshly and reward coordination more heavily. The opening session showed that the U.S. has more ways to win. It also showed the International Team has enough answers to make every subsequent pairing matter.